Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Faculty of Arts
English Department
Specialized Translation Diploma
Second Semester 2014
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Introduction:
The S.T is an abstract from the Egyptian Constitution 2013. It belongs to
the legislative genre which is characterized by its special legalese and style.
This paper is an attempt to highlight some features of the legal texts and
some problems of translating them. Finally, it tries to produce an authentic
equivalent legal text recognized by the T.L reader.
Legal language is also highly formal. This formality can take the form of
long sentences, complex structure and archaic vocabulary.
Legal Constitutions, decrees and laws are quite directive in the SLT
whereas their TLT should be informative.
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Source Text:
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Target Text:
Chapter Two
The Executive Power
Branch I
The President of the Republic
Article (139)
The President of the Republic is the head of State and the head
of executive power. He shall promote the interests of the people;
safeguard the independence of the nation and the indivisible
integrity of the state territory and safety of its lands. He shall abide
by the provisions of the constitution, and assume his jurisdiction
as described therein.
Article (140)
The President of the Republic shall be elected for a term of four
calendar years, starting from the day following the expiration of
the term of his predecessor. The President may only be reelected
once.
Article (141)
A presidential candidate shall be an Egyptian of Egyptian parents,
and neither him nor any of his parents or his spouse may have
held any other nationality. He shall enjoy all his civil and political
rights and shall have done his military service or have been
exempted therefrom by law, and shall not be less than forty years
of age when the nomination opens. Other requirements for
candidacy shall be set by Law.
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Article (142)
Nomination of a candidate for presidency shall require
recommendations from at least twenty elected members of the
House of Representatives, or the support of at least twenty five
thousand citizens who have the right to vote, in at least fifteen
governorates, with a minimum of one thousand supporters from
each governorate thereof.
In all cases, no voter may support more than one candidate as
regulated by Law.
Article (143)
The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct secret
universal suffrage, with an absolute majority of valid votes.
Procedures of the presidential elections shall be regulated by
Law.
Article (144)
On assuming office, the President of the Republic shall take the
following oath before the House of Representatives: “I do swear
by The Almighty God to faithfully uphold the republican regime, to
respect the Constitution and the Law, to fully promote the
interests of the People and to safeguard the independence of the
nation and the integrity and safety of its territories.”
In case of the absence of the House of Representatives, the oath
shall be taken before the General Assembly of the Supreme
Constitutional Court.
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Article (145)
The salary of the President of the Republic shall be determined
by Law. The President may not receive any other salary or
remuneration. No modification to the salary shall be valid during
the presidential term approved therein. Throughout his
presidential term, the President may not, whether in person or by
proxy, be self-employed, engage in commercial, financial or
industrial activity, buy, rent or lease any property any property
owned by the State, by any public law person, or public sector
companies or any public business sector; sell, rent or barter any
part of his own property with the State, or conclude a contract with
the State as a vendor, supplier, contractor or otherwise as set out
by Law. Any of such acts shall be null and void.
The President shall submit a financial disclosure upon taking
office, upon leaving it, and at the end of each year of service.
Such financial estate disclosure is to be published in the Official
Gazette.
Throughout the presidential term, the President of the Republic
may not award himself any orders, decorations or medals.
In case the President of the Republic receives, in person or by
proxy, a cash or in-kind gift because of or in connection with the
presidential office, title thereto shall devolve to the State public
treasury.
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Glossary:
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Commentary:
I) Semantically:
2- In legal writing, the word “shall” is used for obligation and it replaces the
obligation forms “ مضارع+ ”يجب أنor “ ”مضارع. Consequently, the same pattern
has been followed in translating :
a) “ ”يرعى مصالحinto “shall promote the interests” ,
b) “ ”يُنتخبinto “shall be elected”,
c) “ ”يلتزم بالقانونinto “shall abide by the law”
d) “ ”و يتعين على الرئيس تقديمinto “the President shall submit”
e) “ ”يشترط أن يكونinto “shall be”
f) “ ”ال يسرى أي تعديلto “no modification shall be valid”
3- The modal “may” is used in legal texts for permission and is equivalent to
“ ”يجوزand I used this form to translate :
a) “”ال يجوز لرئيس الجمهوريةinto “the President of the Republic may not… b) “ " ال
يجوز إعادة إنتخابةinto “ the president may only be reelected once”
c) “ ”ال يجوز له أن يتقاضىto “the President may not receive”
d) “ ”ال يجوز لرئيس الجمهورية أن يزاولinto “the President of the Republic may not
be…”
e) “ ”ال يجوز له أن يمنح نفسة أوسمةinto “the President may not award himself.”
4- The legal texts are characterized by doublets and triplets which are
commonly used to create a sense of completeness. This rule has been
applied to
a) “ ”يشتري او يُأجرis translated into “buy, rent or lease”.
b) “ ”بالذات أو بالوساطةhas the doublet equivalent “in person or by proxy”. c) “ ”باطلis
also a doublet to “null and void” in legal writing.
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Terminology:
Legal language is characterized by its special terms such as:
1- The lexical item “ ”إختصاصاتهis translated to the legal term “jurisdiction” which
refers to the powers granted by the presidential post or the extent of authority or
control rather than “authorities”, “expertise” or “specialties” because they are not
the intended meaning.
2- The legal terminology for "احكام الدستورis “constitution provisions” and not “rules”
.
3- The English term for “ " مجلس النوابis “The House of Representatives”,
Whereas “Parliament” is transliterated into “ ”البرلمانand “The People’s
Assembly” stands for “”مجلس الشعب
5- “ ”إقرار ذمة ماليةis a legal/ economic term with a fixed equivalent term “financial
disclosure”.
6- In legal dictionary the word " " عينيةhas more than an equivalent whether
(physical assets- allowance in kind- real chattels –in rem- corporal property)
however ( physical assets and chattels ) refer to an item of movable personal
property and (in rem ) collocates with action, so I chose ( in kind) as it
collocates with (gifts and money)
9- " "إقتراعis a legal term refers to “ universal suffrage” and not “general ballot”
because the ballot is the paper in which the electors name their candidate.
10- The phrase “ ”أحكام القانونas a legal term is equivalent to “ law provision” which
stands for a clause in a legal instrument, a law.
11- The term “ ”الجمعية العامة للمحكمة الدستورية العلياis a fixed term and is translated into
“the General Assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court”
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Collocations:
2- The verb “ ”يرعىcan be translated into “ look after”, “act in”, “ guard” or “
safeguard” but I translated it into “promote” as it collocates with the word
“interests”.
3- The verb “ ”يباشرhas more than one equivalent whether “proceed| commence” ,
“assume| undertake” or “pursue| practice”. I chose “assume” as it is mainly used
with “office” to mean (take up duty).
6- The dictionary meaning of the word “ ”بتقاضيis “earn” though it is translated into
“receive” to collocate with “salary”.
7- The word “oath” must be come together with (swear= )حلفor (take ) so “ + أداء
”اليمينis translated into ( take an oath) instead of the literal translation (perform).
9- " The word “ ”صحيحةin " األصوات الصحيحةis translated into “valid” as it collocates
with “votes” better than “correct”.
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Miscellaneous Lexical problems:
2- The constitutions are generally divided into chapters, branches, articles and
clauses. Therefore, the lexical item “ مادةIs translated into “article” and not “
item” since the word “item” is mainly used in contracts to mean “ " مادةor “ بند
.whereas the word “clause” is subdivided from an article means a condition "
"شرطAn article is a paragraph or a system of rules. It is the subdivision of a
document or a book, while a clause is a phrase of a legal document.
3- The word “ “ رئيسis translated into “ president” which refers to the highest
executive officer of a republic rather than “ chairman” which is the presiding
officer of a meeting, committee or board. The President of the Republic = رئيس
الجمهوريةwhereas when referring to رئيس الدولة, the word “ ”رئيسis translated
into “head” implies the position of the greatest authority. رئيس الجمهورية هو
رئيس الدولةis translated into “The President of the Republic is the head of the
State.”
8- The verb “ ”يلتزم بأحكام القانونis translated into “abide by” because it renders both
the meaning of committing and respect better than “obey” or “observe”.
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9- “ ”مدةrefers to the duration of time a president occupies his post so it is
translated into “term of office” because it is more appropriate and formal to
the context than “period” or “duration of time”.
12- The adjective “ ”سريis translated into “secret” rather than “ discreet” or
“ confidential” to suite the contextual meaning.
13- The word “ ”نظامis rendered into “regime “ and not “ system” as it refers
to the politically system of the State.
14- The word “ ”مكافأةis translated into “remuneration “ which is” to pay, to
reward or to recompense” and not “bonus” which means (a sum of money
granted or given to an employee in addition to regular pay, usually in
appreciation for work done, length of service, accumulated favors, etc. ( |عالوة
)مكافأةsince the latter is more comprehensive.
18- The lexical item " "تصرفاتis translated to “acts” which better suits the
context than “behavior “or “conduct”.
19- The word “ ”منصبhas the equivalents “post- position- office-job”. I chose
“office” as it means a position of duty, trust, or authority, especially in the
government or a society. “Office” is more relevant to the meaning.
20- Instead of literally translate “ ”مهن حرةinto “free profession”. I used the
dictionary meaning “self-employed”.
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II) Syntactically:
1- In Article (145), I started the clause with the time phrase “throughout the
presidential term” as to all the terms intact and refer directly to the
president.
3- The phrase “ أو شركات, أو أي من أشخاص القانون العام, أو يستأجر شيئا ً من أموال الدولة
”القطاع العام أو قطاع األعمال العامhas a complex structure as ( )شيئاis owned by all
the following entities. Thus, I added the verb “owned by” to clarify the
meaning. It becomes “ any property owned by the State, by any public law
person, or public sector companies or any public business sector.”
6- The phrase “ ”ال يجوز تأييد أكثر من مترشحhas been modified into “no voter
may support more than one candidate” . the word “voter” is added to clarify
the meaning.
7- “ " ال يعقد معها عقد التزام او توريد أو مقاولة أو غيرهاthis structure is difficult to
translate and add different adjectives to a noun so I changed the structure
and convert the adjectives into nouns referring to the person himself to
make the sentence less complicated in the T.L so it is rendered as “
conclude a contract with the State as a vendor, supplier, contractor or
otherwise.” And not “commitment, supply, contract”.
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III) Stylistically:
1- In legal texts the word “: ”دولةis commonly rendered into “State” (capitalized)
which is the territory, or one of the territories, of a government rather than the
general word “ country”.
2- Legal language is also highly formal, thus; some words have been translated
to suit the formality of the text. For instance:
a) the word “ ”تبدأis translated to “ initiate” rather than “ start”
b) “ ”قبلis translated to “prior” instead of “ before”
c) “ ”زوجةinto “ spouse” than “ wife”
d) “ ”يقدمis translated into “submit” and not “ present or give”
e) “ "عندis rendered into “ upon” rather than “ when”
f) “ ”الجريدةis translated into “Gazette” instead or “newspaper”
g) “ ”أنواطinto “orders” and not “badges”
4- Titles in English are always capitalized. That can be seen in (Chapter- Two)
(Branch ) (Article). Post titles are also capitalized (the President of the
Republic) and in proper nouns (The General Assembly of the Supreme
Constitutional Court), (Gazette)
5- The formality of legal text can take the form of long sentences, a whole article
can be composed of only one long sentence as in Article ( 139),(142)and
(144).
6- The word “Law” is capitalized for emphasis.
7- Listing in English is structured by using commas unlike Arabic that uses ()أو| و
(or |and). That can be clearly traced in Articles (139), (141), (142), (144) and
(145).
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References:
:
- Blackwell , Amy Hackney: The Essential Law Dictionary. 1st ed. Illinois: Sphinx Publishing, 2008.
- Faruqi, Harith Suleiman: Faruqi’s Law Dictionary. 5th ed. Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 2013.
- http://www.almaany.com/
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